Illuminated advertising displays



May 12, 1959 V F. E. MULLER 2,885,805

ILLUMINATED ADVERTISING DISPLAYS Filed July 14, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 INVENTOR. fizz 212 fi/cE/Vzf/ler wan/21 United States Patent IILLUMINATED ADVERTISING DISPLAYS Franz Erich Miiller, Gottingen, Germany, assignor to Paul O. Tobeler, doing business under the name of Trans-Oceanic, Los Angeles, Calif.

ApplicalionJuly 14, 1955, Serial No. 522,135

6 Claims. (CI. 40-33) This invention relates generally to illuminated advertising displays, and is particularly directed to advertising displays illuminated by at least one light source the intensity of which is periodically increased and decreased at a relatively low frequency corresponding to the time required for the human eye to adapt to the change from maximum to minimum intensity of illumination.

An object of the invention is to provide an advertising display illuminated by at least one light source the: intensity of which is periodically increased and decreased,

and wherein the display includes at least one movable part having its movement coordinated with the changes in the intensity of illumination.

Another object is to provide an advertising display i1- luminated by two or more light sources, and wherein the intensities of illumination of the light sources are periodically increased and decreased, with the periods of changing illumination of the several light sources being out of phase with each other.

Still another object is to provide an advertising display illuminated by two or more light sources which are controlled so that their intensities of illumination are periodically increased and decreased out of phase with each other, and wherein the, advertising display includes a movable part, the movement of which is coordinated with the changes in. the intensity of illumination of the several light sources.

One form that the invention may take is characterized by an advertising display having a movable part, for example, a rotated cylinder having advertising material on the surface thereof, it being desirable to particularly emphasize a portion or portions of such material, and at least one light source, preferably of the gaseous discharge type, which is disposed to illuminate the side of the cylinder facing the viewer and the intensity of which is periodically increased and decreased, preferably at a frequency corresponding to the speed with which the human eye can adapt to the changing intensity of illumination and coordinated with the rotation of the cylinder so that the section of the latter bearing the portion of the advertising material to be emphasized will face the viewer when the intensity of illumination is at a maximum value.

Another form that the invention may take is characterized by the provision of two or more light sources, preferably of the gaseous discharge type which may be of the same or different colors, for example, different complementary colors, to provide various other colors of illumination as the intensities of illumination of the several differently colored light sources are varied out of phase with each other, and an arrangement for energizing the several light sources including an electrical circuit having either variable resistances or transformers interposed therein and operated out of phase with each other to provide the desired. out-of-phase variation of the intensities of illumination.

The above, and other objects, features and advantages of the invention, will be apparent in the following detail description of illustrative embodiments which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part here, and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a schematic, perspective view of an illuminated advertising display embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a Wiring diagram showing the electrical circuits for the display of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a wiring diagram showing the electrical circuits for an illuminated advertising display constructed in accordance with another embodiment of this invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, and initially to Fig. 1 thereof, an illuminated advertising display embodying this invention is there schematically represented and generally identified by the reference numeral 10. The display 10 includes at least one movable part 11 which may, as shown in the drawing, be in the form of a cylinder rotatably mounted on a vertical axle 12. The cylinder 11 has advertising material on the surface thereof and may be visible between fixed portions 13 of the display. The present invention has particular application to advertising displays wherein a portion of portions of the material on the movable part 11 is or are to be emphasized, for example, the name of the advertised product or the like, and for this purpose, the illumination of the display is arranged to be periodically increased and decreased in intensity for directing the viewers attention to the display, with the portion or portions of the advertising material on the movable part 11 being exposed to view or facing toward the viewer at a time or times when the illumination is at its brightest to emphasize the importance of such portions of the advertising material.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the advertising display 10 is illuminated by at least one light source 14, preferably in the form of a gaseous discharge or fluorescent light tube to distribute the illumination over a large area, and both the periodic increasing and decreasing of the illumination by the light source 14 and the rotation of the movable part 11 of the display are controlled by a motor 15 to ensure the desired coordination between these two operations.

Referring to Fig. 2 of the drawing, it will be seen that the electric circuit for energizing the fluorescent light tube 14 may include terminals 16 to which alternating current is supplied. A conductor 17 extends from one of the terminals to the movable contact of variable resistance or potentiometer 18. A conductor 19 connects the potentiometer 18 to one cathode 20 of the tube 14, while the usual starter 21 is connected across the cathode 20 and the other cathode 22 of the fluorescent tube. A conductor 23 extends from the other terminal 16 to the cathode 22 and has a delay line or inductance 24 interposed therein. As the movable slider or contact of potentiometer 18 is reciprocated along the resistance of the latter, the voltage impressed across the cathodes of tube 14 is increased and decreased to correspondingly increase and decrease the intensity of illumination.

In order to maintain the ignition of the gaseous discharge tube when the potentiometer 18 interposes the maximum resistance in the energizing circuit, that is, under reduced or stepped-down voltage, an arrangement is provided for continuously heating the cathodes 20 and 22. The heating arrangement may, as shown in Fig. 2, include a transformer 25 having its primary winding connected to the terminals 16, while secondary windings of the transformer are connected to the cathodes 20 and 22, respectively.

In order to coordinate the reciprocation of the slider of potentiometer 18 with the rotation of the movable display part 11, a shaft 26, driven by the motor 15, is connected to the axle. 12 of the movable display part, for example, by bevel gearing 27, and an eccentric crankpin 28 is provided on the shaft 26 and engages in a slot 29 of an oscillatable member 30 which is pivotally supported at 31. Thus, rotation of the shaft 26 produces oscillation of the member 30, as indicated by the arrow 32, and such oscillation is converted into reciprocation of the slider 33 of potentiometer 18 by a pin 34 carried by member 30 and engaging in a slotted member 35 which is connected to the slider 33 and moves along a guide 36.

Where only a single section or portion of the advertising material on the cylinder 11 is to be emphasized by the intense illumination thereof, the gearing 27 is arranged to rotate the axle 12 at the same speed as the shaft 26, and the advertising material to be emphasized is arranged on the cylinder 11 so that it is exposed to view between the fixed parts 13 of the display when the shaft 26 is disposed to position the slider 33 for interposing a minimum resistance in the circuit of the light source 14. Of course, the gearing 27 can be arranged so that the periodic increase and decrease of the intensity of illumination occurs two or more times during each rotation of the cylinder 11 and, in that case, a corresponding number of sections of the advertising material on the movable part of the display will be emphasized by periodic intense illumination.

Preferably, the motor 15 rotates the shaft 26 at a speed which results in relatively slow or gradual increasing and decreasing of the intensity of illumination so that the human eye can adapt to the changing intensity.

Referring now to Fig. 3, wherein another advertising display embodying this invention is illustrated and generally identified by the reference number 100, it will be seen that the display 100 includes at least two light sources 101 and 102 arranged to illuminate the advertising material and having their intensities periodically increased and decreased out of phase with each other. The light sources 101 and 102 preferably are gaseous discharge tubes, as shown in the drawing, and they may provide differently colored illumination, for example, different complementary colors so that, as the intensities of illumination of the tubes are increased and decreased out of phase with each other, first one color and then the other color dominates when the related tubes are emitting light of maximum intensity, and still other colors of illumination are obtained when the tubes are both emitting light of intermediate intensity. While the use of tubes emitting differently colored light, as above, achieves a unique and attractive effect, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to such an arrangement, and that the light emitted from both tubes 101 and 102 may be of the same color or white.

In order to produce the periodic increase and decrease of the intensities of illumination of the tubes 101 and 102, an electrical circuit of the kind shown in Fig. 3 may be employed for energizing the gaseous discharge tubes. This electrical circuit includes terminals 103 to which a source of alternating current is connected, and transformers 104 and 105 having their primary windings 106 and 107, respectively, connected to the terminals 103. The secondary windings 108 and 109 of the transformers 104 and 105, respectively, are connected to the cathodes of the tubes 101 and 102, respectively. Further, the transformers 104 and 105 include magnetic cores 110 and 111, respectively, which are mounted on a common rotatable shaft 112 (represented by a broken line on Fig. 3), with the core 110 being angularly displaced through 90 degrees with respect to the core 111. Thus, as the shaft 112 is rotated, for example, by a motor 113, the rotated cores 110 and 111 will periodically varythe power supplied to the related gaseous discharge tubes to correspondingly vary the intensities of the illumination emitted from the latter, and the arrangement of the cores 110 and 112 at 90 degrees to each other on the shaft 112 will ensure that the power from transformer 104 to tube 101 and the intensity of illumination of the latter will be at their maximum values when the powe'r'from transformer and the illumination from tube 102 are at their minimum values and, conversely, that the illumination from tube 102 will be at its maximum value when the illumination from tube 101 is at its minimum value.

If desired, the motor 113 of the embodiment in Fig. 3 can also be used to drive a movable part 114 of the advertising display 100, for example, through a suitable transmission represented by the broken line 115, and it is apparent that the movement of the display part 114 will thereby be coordinated with the out-of-phase increasing and decreasing of the intensities of illumination of the tubes 101 and 102.

In the embodiment of Fig. 3, the rate at which the intensities of illumination of the tubes 101 and 102 are increased and decreased, out of phase with each other, are also at least as slow as the speed with which the human eye can adapt to such changes in illumination.

Although the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2 employs a variable resistance or potentiometer 18 for periodically increasing and decreasing the intensity of illumination of the tube 14 by suitably varying the voltage impressed on the latter, and the embodiment of Fig. 3 controls the power to the tubes 101 and 102 for the same purpose through the use of the variable transformers 104 and 105, it is to be understood that potentiometers may be substituted for the variable transformers of Fig. 3, and, conversely, a variable transformer may be substituted for the potentiometer of Figs. 1 and 2.

Further, it is to be noted that a sound producing system may be combined with an illuminated advertising display constructed in accordance with this invention, particularly with the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2, and may include a loud speaker 37 (Fig. l) mounted on the movable display part 11, or otherwise rotatable, so that the loud speaker directs the sound emitted thereby toward the viewer when the part of the advertising material to be emphasized faces toward the viewer and the illumination from tube 14 is at its maximum intensity.

Although several embodiments of the invention have been described in detail herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, such embodiments are merely exemplary and various changes and modifications can be effected therein, by one skilled in the art, without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An advertising display comprising a display member adapted to have advertising material thereon, at least part of said member being movable to successively expose different portions thereof to view, at least one gaseous discharge tube arranged to continuously illuminate the advertising material on said member, an electrical circuit continuously energizing said tube and including control means operative to periodically increase and decrease the intensity of the continuous illumination emitted by said tube, and drive means simultaneously operating said movable part of the display member and said control means so that the movement of said movable part is coordinated with the periodic increase and decrease in the intensity of illumination and portions of said movable part of the display member are emphasized by exposure to view during periods of maximum intensity of illumination.

2. In an advertising display; the combination of a movable member adapted to have an advertising display thereon with different portions thereof being exposed to view in response to movement of said member, at least one gaseous discharge tube for continuously illuminating the display, an electrical circuit continuously energizing the cathodes of said gaseous discharge tube and having means interposed therein for periodically increasing and decreasing the current supplied to said cathodes thereby to correspondingly increase and decrease the intensity of the'illumination emitted continuously from said tube, means operative to heat said cathodes of the tube so that the latter continues to emit light of low intensityv when the current supplied to said cathodes is at its minimum value, and means coordinating the movement of said member with the increasing and decreasing of the current supplied to said cathodes so that the portions of said member exposed to view during periods of maximum illumination are correspondingly emphasized for the viewer.

3. An advertising display comprising a display member adapted to have advertising material thereon, at least part of said member being movable, at least two gaseous discharge tubes arranged to continuously illuminate the advertising material on said display member, an electric circuit continuously energizing said tubes and including control means operative to periodically increase and decrease the intensities of illumination continuously emitted from said tubes with the period of changing intensity of illumination of each tube being out of phase with respect to the corresponding period of the other tubes, and drive means simultaneously operating said movable part of the display member and said control means so that the movement of said movable part is coordinated with the periodic increases and decreases in the intensities of illumination of said tubes.

4. In an advertising display; the combination according to claim 3, wherein said tubes emit diiierently colored illuminations which react during the out of phase periodic changes in the intensities thereof to produce multi-colored variations in the illumination of the display.

5. In an advertising display; the combination according to claim 3; wherein the intensity of illumination of each tube is increased and decreased at a rate at which the human eye can adapt to such changes in the intensity of illumination.

6. In an advertising display; the combination according to claim 3, wherein said control means includes a transformer interposed between each of said tubes and a source of electric current to step-down the voltage at said source, each of said transformers having a rotatable magnetic core to successively increase and decrease the step-down of the voltage impressed on the related tube as the core is rotated, and a rotated shaft having the several magnetic cores fixed thereon in angularly spaced apart positions to ensure the out of phase, periodic increase and decrease of the intensities of illumination of said tubes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,073,420 Jackson Sept. 16, 1913 1,124,215 Dempsey Jan. 5, 1915 1,803,598 Craig May 5, 1931 1,819,218 Watson Aug. 18, 1931 1,863,623 Eschenbach June 21, 1932 1,872,155 Masek Aug. 16, 1932 1,880,230 Beck Oct. 4, 1932 1,965,654 Kirk July 10, 1934 1,991,775 Spencer Feb. 19, 1935 2,049,929 Schlachman Aug. 4, 1936 2,177,488 Hunter Oct. 24, 1939 2,530,044 Castillon Nov. 14, 1950 2,618,197 Boushey Nov. 18, 1952 2,791,417 Darofi May 7, 1957 

